West Virginia loses 82-76 to Kansas State on the road
West Virginia led by double digits in the first half but couldn't close the deal losing 82-76 to Kansas State on the road in overtime.
West Virginia started the scoring with a basket by Jimmy Bell and he would score two of the next three to push the early lead to 8-1 with 16:58 left in the first half.
The lead pushed to 13-1 as the Mountaineers used an 11-0 run to take early control in the contest. West Virginia led 17-5 at the 11:40 mark as the defense held Kansas State to 2-12 from the field.
The lead was 21-10 with 7:25 left in the half as the two teams battled back and forth. But the Wildcats would use an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to only 5 points with 4:34 left in the half.
The Mountaineers would take a 32-21 lead into the half despite just connecting on 7-16 free throw attempts and holding Kansas State to 29-percent shooting from the floor.
Erik Stevenson would pick up his fourth foul at the start of the second half, but the Mountaineers would hold a 35-28 edge at the 17:30 mark.
West Virginia would hold a 39-34 lead but would commit five turnovers over a three minute period which would help close the gap.
The lead would shrink to 42-41 as the Wildcats continued their charge as the Mountaineers struggled to put the ball into the basket.
Kansas State would surge ahead 47-44 to complete a 26-12 run to start the second half. And the Wildcats would build their lead to 52-45 with only 8:21 left.
The Mountaineers would rally to tie the game at 52-all with 5:37 remaining in a back and forth affair between the Big 12 teams.
The Wildcats would again take the lead 58-53 with 3:58 remaining as the Mountaineers struggled from the foul line hitting 15-30 overall.
West Virginia trailed 62-59 with 1:54 left as the Mountaineers looked to mount a come back on the road. And the Mountaineers would cut the lead to 62-61 with a Stevenson shot with only 1:25 left before he would foul out on the ensuing possession.
West Virginia would retake the lead on a Mitchell basket at 63-62 with 53 ticks left to complete a 6-0 run down the stretch.
The two would battle back and forth before a Kedrian Johnson three would tie things up at 66-all to send the game into overtime.
The Mountaineers would be outscored 16-10 in overtime as it would lead to a Big 12 opening loss on the road.
The Mountaineers will next take on Oklahoma State Jan. 2 on the road.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan
•Like us on Facebook
